SSS Ranked Awakening: All My Skills Are at Level 100

Chapter 686: A Fortune Worth Spending

Elder Shan reached the crossing shortly after midday.

His people arrived in small groups from the road and the river, dressed as travelers and freight workers. By the time he entered the shed, two had already taken over the approaches without attracting the foreman’s attention.

Leon verified his authority token and handed him Ji’s instructions.

The transfer took an hour.

Vyra walked a recorder through the documents while Seraphine explained the restraint and surrendered the controller. The clerk and five guards were moved into secure custody. Shan’s people took responsibility for maintaining the yard’s appearance until the evening collection.

”You have his identification phrases?” the elder asked.

”Recorded alongside his description of the collector,” Leon replied. ”We haven’t independently verified either.”

”We will.”

Shan closed the case containing the evidence.

”The Palace Mistress has released you from the assignment. My people can handle tonight.”

Leon had expected at least a few more questions.

”That’s everything?”

”Unless you’ve forgotten another prisoner.”

”Six was enough.”

”Then go.”

Before they left, the formation master approached Leon beside the waiting transport. Loriel had explained the available protection, and he had agreed to travel with the Palace escort.

”I didn’t thank you,” he said.

”You were busy deciding whether we were worse than the last people.”

The man gave a tired, reluctant smile.

”I still don’t understand why you came.”

”We were investigating the tools made at the Moonfall workshop. The trail brought us here.”

”And you found me.”

Leon nodded.

For a moment, the man looked down at the support Loriel had wrapped around his forearm.

”Thank you,” he said again, more firmly.

”You’re welcome.”

Leon watched him climb into the transport, then joined the others on the western road.

Four days later, they reached Moonfall.

Qingyue parted from them inside the eastern gate, where the road divided toward the merchant districts.

”The investigation will continue?” she asked.

”Shan has the witness and the records. His team was assigned to intercept the collector after we left.”

”But you’re finished.”

”With this assignment, yes.”

Qingyue adjusted the strap of her bag.

Leon could understand why she wanted more. It had been her family’s estate, her relatives endangered by the tools that started all this.

”They have people who can trace payments and question prisoners,” he said. ”I’ve given them something useful to work with. I’m not going to spend the rest of the year following it myself.”

She studied him, then nodded.

”No. I suppose you have your own work.”

”I do.”

”Then thank you for helping with ours.”

There was no accusation in it. Leon appreciated that.

They said their farewells, and his household found rooms for the night.

After the doors were secured and the privacy wards checked, Leon sat down and opened the Cosmic System’s purchasing interface.

The tribute installment had arrived shortly before they left for White Reed. One hundred and eighty million Causality, and he had spent the journey thinking about a stubborn Earth branch instead of deciding what he could buy for it.

Now he had time to look properly.

Finished cultivation methods appeared among the first results.

He examined several out of curiosity, then changed the search. They might be worth studying later, but he wanted resources for the Scripture he had already built.

Time was covered. Xyra could give him a thousand subjective days for one outside without difficulty.

Energy was what he needed: a reserve he could draw from in controlled quantities while comparing different circulation rates.

He worked through the listings until one made him stop.

[Primordial Condensate — Void-Compatible Cultivation Reserve]

[Refined, unaffiliated energy. Stored without a previous cultivator’s imprint. Suitable for controlled absorption through void-natured refining structures.]

[One measure: one sealed reservoir containing one hundred equal portions.]

[Price: 11,000,000 Causality per measure.]

Leon opened the detailed specification.

The stated energy content mattered more than the name. Comparing it with the quantities he had processed from his preserved cores, he estimated that each reservoir held enough for numerous low-output trials. How long it lasted during serious cultivation would depend on what the Scripture demanded.

The packaging allowed him to draw a fraction of a portion and reseal the rest. He would not have to expose an entire reserve whenever he wanted to repeat one measurement.

He checked the compatibility conditions again.

His Primordial Void Heart could refine it. The reserve would supply energy; his own affinities and the Scripture would still have to shape and circulate it. Nothing in the listing promised improved comprehension or a completed method.

That suited him.

He selected ten measures, looked at the total, and paused.

One hundred and ten million was a considerable purchase even after the tribute. He reviewed the specifications once more, then confirmed it.

[Purchase confirmed.]

[Primordial Condensate: Ten measures.]

[110,000,000 Causality deducted.]

Ten sealed reservoirs appeared, each small enough to fit in his palm.

Leon picked one up and laughed.

A moment later, Loriel knocked at the connecting door.

”Come in.”

She entered, glanced at the containers, and looked at his face.

”What did you buy?”

”Cultivation fuel.”

”That is apparently very exciting fuel.”

He read her the description, including the portion controls. When he told her the price and quantity, she sat on the edge of the bed.

”All ten?”

”All ten.”

Loriel took the reservoir he offered her, careful to leave its seal untouched.

”How long will they last?”

”I’ll know after I test the intake. At low output, long enough that I can repeat a failed comparison without immediately calculating whether it was worth the expense.”

She looked up.

”That’s what you’re pleased about?”

”Partly.” Leon leaned back in his chair. ”I spent seven months of my own time establishing that first circulation. I want to find out what it can do when I stop forcing every branch into the same pattern.”

”And you want to start tonight.”

He smiled.

Loriel handed the reservoir back.

”I thought so. I’ll tell the others you’re going inside.”

Once the household knew his plans and the room was secured, Leon opened a passage into his dimensional world.

Xyra was on the mansion steps.

”You brought supplies,” she said, looking at the reservoirs.

”And something to test.”

He gave her his written notes from the conversation with the Lord. They contained the observation about differing flow rates and the questions he had recorded afterward, with nothing identifying the speaker.

Xyra read them while he arranged the containers.

”You want the eastern flat?”

”Yes. A thousand to one, if you don’t mind.”

She nodded, and the accelerated zone settled into place without any visible effort.

Leon grinned at her.

”I missed this.”

”You were welcome to come back.”

”I know.”

That was part of what had finally made him stop following the investigation.

On the flat, he prepared the intake array and opened a fresh record book. He left nine reservoirs sealed and connected the tenth without drawing from it yet.

First came the unchanged circulation.

Mana from his Primordial Void Heart followed the established route. Leon measured the branch rates, their return timing, and the strain where they rejoined the neutral section. He recorded the correction needed to keep Earth matched to the others.

The method remained stable.

That mattered. Whatever happened next, he had a working arrangement to return to.

He then admitted a minute quantity of condensate through the intake and allowed his Heart to refine it. The energy entered cleanly, but he still waited through another complete cycle before proceeding.

No unexpected reaction.

Leon wrote that down too.

He was still at Early Qi Refinement in this world’s cultivation system. The reserve beside him did not change that. Neither did the excitement making him want to skip ahead to a larger test.

He settled his hands on his knees.

One change. See what it actually does.

Holding the other eight branches at their recorded rates, he eased the correction on Earth by a fraction.

Then he watched its return to the neutral route.